


Before You Go

by TheBrothersDrake



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother/Brother Incest, But Hopefully Decently Written Trash, But you know... do what you want I'm not your keeper, Game Spoilers, M/M, Seriously you shouldn't read unless you've finished the game, Some parts might not even make sense otherwise, This is trash, drakecest, i'm trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 12:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6984238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBrothersDrake/pseuds/TheBrothersDrake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asshole.</p><p>That was the way Nathan referred to Sam when he came knocking at his office after work hours. </p><p>Granted, at the time he didn’t know it was his long lost brother, but all the same it had been Sam on the other side of that door, which counted. </p><p>Weeks later, trekking through the foliage of a humid jungle island, the name still fit; even more so now. </p><p>That fucking <em>asshole.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Before You Go

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't want to ship Sam/Nate I SWEAR. I fucking fought it the whole time but it was a losing battle, and now: Here I Am. 
> 
> Uncharted 4 and this ship consumed my mind and would not leave me alone until I wrote something out. It's really short, probably super choppy, and has weird as fuck pacing but... *shrug emoji*
> 
> Even now, after this little ficlet is done, I still feel the itch... Gods help my sick twisted soul... I love these men.
> 
> Uh, canon divergence for obvious reasons, but I stuck to canon as much as I could. My first Uncharted fic ever, so the characters are probably off, but at least it's great practice, right? 
> 
> IDK, Enjoy.

Asshole.

That was the way Nathan referred to Sam when he came knocking at his office after work hours. 

Granted, at the time he didn’t know it was his long lost brother, but all the same it had been Sam on the other side of that door, which counted. 

Weeks later, trekking through the foliage of a humid jungle island, the name still fit; even more so now. 

That fucking _asshole._

Nathan’s gaze was locked dead ahead on Elena as she paved a path across this god forsaken island toward the man who got them into this mess in the first place. His eyes may have been on his wife, but his mind was miles away, completely and utterly taken up by Samuel Drake. 

So, Sam had survived being shot, spent fifteen years-- no, less than that, because Rafe said Sam worked with him for two years-- in a Panama prison, was freed by Rafe, of all fucking people, and helped that smug rich son of a bitch track down the most important clue to finding a treasure that they as brothers had made the center of their lives. 

Two whole fucking years Sam was free from that prison and he didn’t care enough to show up and let Nathan know he was alive, probably didn’t even think about how fucked up his death had made his younger brother a decade and a half ago.

Nate let out an angry sigh. Even after all that shit, he still hoped his brother was okay. Was making a beeline through a jungle he was more than sick of to rescue Sam from the clutches of a man who used him for his mind, and the claws of a woman who would much rather see her bullet in his skull than burdening her precious crew. 

He’d save Sam. Get him back to the States, make sure he was free from Rafe’s shadow and Nadine’s army. After that... He didn’t know. He wanted to continue his renewed relationship with Sam, especially after losing him once, but the older man had built it on lies and tricks. 

Nathan felt used. Did Sam even care about him, beyond how helpful he could be in finding Avery’s treasure? He said the treasure was theirs, had always belonged to them, but Nate found it hard to believe in a “them” anymore. 

At least, that’s how he felt for a little while. 

After the shock had worn off and Nate's head had cleared somewhat, his reasoning awoke from wherever it had run to after the truth had come out. (It probably didn't help that he bust his head open on a jutting rock, either.)

Sam was his brother, and Nathan was the only family he had left.

Throughout their lives Sam had always been looking out for Nate’s best interest. From leaving him in the orphanage while he worked day and night to scrape together some money, to putting himself between his brother and a loaded gun when he was just seventeen years old...

He had always put Nathan above himself. Continued to do so, if the shit-show on the cliff with Rafe and Nadine was taken into account. 

The bullet meant for Nate had found it’s mark on a different body, and he hoped it hadn’t dug itself into Sam’s arm. They didn’t need fishing out shrapnel added to their to-do list today on top of everything else.

~⚔~

“So,” Elena began, “Why do you think Sam didn’t come straight to you? After Rafe got him out of prison?”

They had a moment to breathe, driving across rivers and around waterfalls on their way to the elevator that would take them to New Devon. Luck have it, to Sam. 

There weren’t any Shoreline soldiers in sight, but neither of them counted on that for very long. 

“I think he wanted to gather every clue that Rafe had on Avery before bailing on him,” Nate paused, “Plus, he needed time to come up with that crazy Alcázar story.” 

It was fairly easy for Nate to figure that out on his own, especially knowing Sam as well as he does. Even knowing, or well, _speculating_ , why it took Sam so long didn’t mean Nate didn’t still feel a pang of anger every time he thought about it.

If he wanted to be completely honest, part of that anger was at himself; for not searching a little harder, for not digging that much deeper. A few months after escaping the prison and he just... gave up. Reconciled himself to believing the most important person to him was dead and gone. 

Nate knew it wasn’t his fault. That he couldn’t have possibly known Sam was still alive and imprisoned alone, left to fend for himself and rot. He knew Sam didn’t hold a thing against him, that Elena and Sully would say he was being irrational-- his logic told him that much itself-- but it was hard not to take at least a little of the responsibility. 

Then there was the whole Sam lying to him thing. 

Nate could speculate why Sam pulled that shit as well, but it was a little harder to forgive him for that. The funniest part was, if Sam had been truthful and asked Nathan to join him to take up what they had started years ago... Eventually, he would have said yes. 

“Ugh, I mean if I had just looked it up.” The 4x4 hit a depression under the water with enough force to spray them both with chilled murky water, not that it mattered what with the swims that had taken earlier. 

“Hey, easy,” Elena warned as she wiped the water from her face. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. You had just met the brother you spent fifteen years thinking was dead. I don’t think anyone would have questioned it if they were in the same position.”

“Right. You’re right, I just- Sam’s always been the best liar I’ve ever known.” Nathan tightened his grip on the steering wheel, only half due to the incline of rocks under the tires. “There was a time when I was always in on it.”

They topped the hill and the hoary elevator that lay down below was a welcomed sight. All things considered, it wasn’t half bad of a trip. 

Nathan hoped it stayed that way.

~⚔~

“These are… some of history's greatest pirates,” Nate’s voice held admiration and his eyes brimmed with an excitement which Elena hadn’t seen in years. She had almost forgotten what it looked like on him. “And they all perished in an instant. At this very table.”

This man that stood before her now, the one covered in dirt and sweat and blood with a smile on his face, who hunched over ancient letters and found familiarity with skeletons dressed in threadbare finery that was hundreds of years old… That was who Nate was.

Not the man who worked a routine day job. Who dressed in semi-casual shirts and slacks and spent his nights doing paperwork and sitting in a dark room watching TV before bed. That wasn’t Nathan Drake.

That was the man he made himself become.

“It’s incredible.”

“Yeah.” His smile reflected his wonder and her heart ached, for she knew it was due to something she couldn't give him.

He looked at her a moment and dropped his head. She knew he saw the mist of her eyes and the sadness reflected through them.

"I'm-- I'm sorry. I, uh..." He struggled to find words that would make her feel better, to apologize. Elena watched him scramble to pull the pieces of his mundane persona around himself, to be the man he thought she wanted. He failed. "I'm sorry."

He didn't need to be sorry. Not for this. Adventure ran through his blood and guided his spirit. This was what he wanted. This was what made him feel whole.

"It's okay." She tried to make her smile reassuring, but it only felt sad. He looked away.

"Nate," She spoke softly, the smile dropped from her mouth. "I love you-"

"No. Jesus, Elena," He straightened up and rounded the table, closing the distance to her. He knew where this was going, he couldn't have this conversation, not here. "I-"

"Nate." Her voice was firm and her gaze carried authority. This time he was going to listen. "I love you. But we both know a life in the suburbs of New Orleans and a job fishing junk out of the river is no place for you. I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner." 

He opened his mouth to argue but she shook her head and closed her eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she held the hand that cupped her face with her own.

"I always sort of knew actually... I had just hoped that maybe it wouldn't have been so bad."

"Elena, I love the life I have with you, I love our cluttered house, I love my job; the one I won't go to prison for. This... This is something I tried to leave behind."

"Can you tell me with full honesty, that if you could go back knowing everything you do now, that you wouldn't follow Sam into this?" 

Nate opened his mouth but no words came out. He looked from her eyes to the room around them, taking in the water stained wallpaper and rotting furniture; the floor tiles where lush green plant-life pushed through to create a beautiful fusion of wilds and domesticity, the holes in the ceiling where sunlight filtered through and cast the set of the deadly meal in hues of yellow and orange. 

He looked so lost.

“Nate... It’s okay.” She gently pulled his hand from her face, swallowed the lump in her throat, and smiled again. This time, she hoped it showed how much she cared about him. He had to know she was doing this because she loved him and couldn’t see him cage himself up like he had been. “You can do... Whatever you want. And I will always support you.” 

“What if what I want is to stay with you?” 

She looked at him a long time before speaking. Searching his face, making sure what she was about to say was what she really meant. “I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t lie to yourself anymore.” 

Elena pulled herself up and pressed a chaste kiss to Nathan’s lips. It only lasted a few seconds, and when she pulled away he didn’t follow. 

~⚔~

“I gotta see this thing through, Nathan.” Sam tore his eyes from the mountain-- from where he could feel in his blood the treasure would be-- to look at his brother. His gaze only lingered for a moment.

“Sam.” 

He ignored the call of his name. Nathan wouldn’t understand, couldn’t understand. While his little brother was finding lost cities and uncovering world mysteries, Sam spent his days and nights locked in a dirty prison cell. 

No, they weren’t those kids anymore, Nathan had been right about that. But he was also the only one of them who got the chance to make a name for himself, to feel the high only adventures like this could bring you. It wasn’t about _proving_ anything, not to Sam. 

It was about truly feeling like he had a life again. 

“Hey,” Nate put more force in his voice and tried again, “Listen to me! If you do this I’m not coming after you! You hear me?” 

Sam paused, his body partially hidden by a toppled pillar, and took in what Nathan said. For a moment it looked like he’d see reason, that the light in his eyes would dull and he’d deflate just like he had when they’d talked about this before. But Nathan could see, even from this distance, that his brother’s resolution hardened and that light only shone brighter. 

“I’m sorry...” 

“Sam! Sam,” Nathan yelled, but it was too late. His brother had already disappeared behind the brick wall overgrown with ivy. 

_That stupid, stubborn...!_

They had just saved Sam’s ass from being shot to pieces and as _soon_ as he gets the opportunity, he takes off. 

Nate wanted to scream. He almost did, if not for Sully speaking up.

“He called your bluff.”

Except he wasn’t bluffing. Not this time. 

“He’s gonna get himself killed.” Elena started for the ruins of a stone archway, throwing a _‘c’mon’_ over her shoulder. 

Nate almost wanted to argue. To tell them that it was too dangerous to run after Sam, that if he wanted to risk his life then it was on him and they shouldn’t have to be the ones to save it. Again. Not if he was set on playing such a perilous game. 

But then a small voice in his head broke through his angry swarm of thoughts, sounding much too reasonable and calm to belong to himself at the moment.

_If you don’t go after him and he gets himself killed... Would you be able to forgive yourself?_

“She’s-- She’s probably right.”

“Of course she is.” Sully eyed him before following Elena and Nathan wondered if the old man had somehow picked up on where they now stood. It was something he had seen before, years ago, and Sullivan was nothing if not perceptive. “Let’s go.”

“Yeah...” Nate sent one last look to where Sam disappeared before trailing behind. 

~⚔~

Red hot embers fell from the ceiling and slowly ate their way through the dry rotted wood of the floorboards. The smoke in the cabin grew thicker and darker with every passing minute. Nate fought with it to get a decent breath. 

_Get Sam out._

He had to pause to fill his lungs with what he could. He only let himself take a moment, then he went right back to pulling. 

_Get Sam out._

Somewhere behind them the wall of a cage gave out due to the destruction of flame and golden treasures spilled across the floor. 

_Get Sam out._

It became like a mantra in his head as his hands clenched the splintering pillar. He used all of his body to lift, trying desperately to move the fucking thing, but it wasn’t enough. 

He could hear Sam calling his name, but only faintly. 

“Listen to me. Listen to me!” Sam grabbed his shoulder like a vice, pulling his concentration. “All I ever wanted to do was find this treasure with you.”

“Sam, no, shut up..”

He’d get Sam out, he could do it.

“We did it, little brother. Okay? It’s alright.”

“No… There’s gotta be another way…”

Giving up wasn’t an option. Leaving Sam to die wasn’t an option.

“Nathan. Nathan. You gotta go.”

“No, no, there’s gotta be something…”

There was always something, _always_ an answer.

“You gotta go!” Sam pushed him and he stumbled back. The fire had spread to every corner of the room surrounding them at almost every angle. It blackened the walls and left soot and ash in it’s wake to mix with the little amount of oxygen left.

“There’s something–” 

_Get Sam out._

“There is no other way!” 

Nate looked at his brother, pinned under the column of the ship. There was fear in his eyes, but it wasn’t for himself. There was a sad sort of resignation too.

Sam knew he wasn’t getting out... Knew that the last thing he would see would be the inside of this burning ship and the cursed treasure that shone so beautifully in the light of the flame. 

It would be worth it, Sam thought, as long as Nathan got out. As long as Nathan lived. 

“C’mon, Nathan. I gotta know you made it out alright!” 

Nate took a step back, then another, falling debris just missing him by inches. The love in Sam’s voice made him want to listen; to give him his last wish, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t see Sam like this and walk away, leaving him to die.

“No…” 

Everything Sam had done for him, every patched up scrape, every present as a kid, every word of comfort, Nate remembered it all in that moment. Sam was, and always would be, the most important person in his life, and Nate knew he was the same in his brothers. 

Leaving was out of the question. 

“Nathan, the whole place is about to blow up!” 

_Get Sam out... Or die with him._

Nate looked around the room, mind furiously buzzing with half formed ideas of escape, none of which panned out, until-

“That’s it... That’s it!” He rushed to a cannon that sat in the corner and began adjusting the angle of it.

“What the hell are you doing?” 

“Just trust me.” The cannon was in what Nate hoped was the perfect position, not that it had to be exact for what he had planned. 

“God damn it...” Sam sounded pissed, but Nathan wasn’t going to turn back now.

“Just get your head down!” Nate picked up a stray piece of wood, one that held flame at the end. With one last glance at Sam, he lit the wick and ran.

The cannon blew a gaping hole through the floor and water quickly flowed into the cabin, quenching the embers as it flooded the room. 

He rushed to Sam and grabbed the end of the column again. “Do it now. C’mon.” 

Together they pushed and pulled at the weight, the water making it that much easier, until Sam was able to slip free. 

As soon as Sam rose above the water, hands where on him. 

Nate had only meant to grab Sam’s shoulder, to steady him and to reassure himself that his brother was okay. Instead, he pulled the taller man into a tight embrace. 

They were both laughing with unbridled joy. The intense relief they felt showing through in wide smiles and sparkling eyes. 

On nothing but impulse, before he could even think about what he was doing, Nate grabbed Sam’s face and pulled himself up to crush their lips together. 

It was a kiss powered by all the emotions that he had to keep bottled up the past however many hours. Fear, pain, loneliness, worry, relief, joy, frustration... Lots of frustration. 

It took him a second to register the feel of Sam’s mouth on his, the weathered skin of Sam’s face under his trembling hands. It must have taken Sam even longer to realize what was going on through the white thrill of cheating death, because for a few moments his mouth stayed curved in a grin. 

He was intimately aware of when Sam’s brain caught up with what was happening to his body, being as close to him as he was. 

Nate felt Sam shift, his arms held out in the air at Nathan’s side, like he didn’t know if he wanted to latch on or let them drop, to push away or drag closer. 

He should pull away now, he should let Sam go and step back, he... He should not be kissing his brother. 

His brother should not be kissing him back. 

Sam unfroze and brought his hands up to grab Nathan’s biceps, the water soaked fabric of his shirt sliding over his skin. Nate had expected to be pushed away, but Sam’s grip was firm and was meant to hold him still. Hell, Nathan wasn’t going to argue, not with the change in angle he took. 

Their mouths slid together at Sam’s behest and just like that every shameful thought and fantasy Nate had about his older brother throughout his life broke down the door of the deepest closet he locked them in and came rushing to the front of his mind.

_Wishing Sam was locked in that Panamanian solitary cell with him._

_Imagining Sam’s warm hands running across his cool skin on a lonely night._

_The feel of his brother’s hard body as he held on to him on a motorcycle._

_The way his thin blue shirt clung to the lean muscle of his torso every time they had to cross water._

_The glisten of his arms after having to climb in the heat of a tropical island._

All these plus years worth of others. Nathan didn’t even want to touch the can of worms that was his first wet dream.

The mixture of his fantasies and the very real feel of Sam’s mouth on him made Nate groan deep in his throat. The sound made Sam tighten his grip on Nathan’s arms, but pull away soon after. 

When their eye’s met Nathan noticed Sam’s pupils were blown wide, leaving only a thin ring of hazel. It made him want to lean in again. 

“You... are one crazy son of a bitch.” There was no animosity or revulsion in Sam’s voice, and it made Nathan’s heart soar. He laughed.

“Takes one to know one.” 

The water in the cabin was at chest level now, and rising fast. 

“Uh,” Sam started lamely, licking his lips, “Water.”

“Yeah.” Nate’s eyes broke from his brother and he took a quick look around, having to relocate the hole he blasted in the floor only minutes prior. “C’mon.”

They dove under the water and swam, resurfacing in the cave that housed Avery’s life’s work. 

They shared a brief look before making a mad dash to the exit. The ship fell apart, burning pieces breaking off and sinking to the depths around them. Massive boulders had nearly blocked their only escape, but they had made it out in time.

Together. 

A lot had happened in the past day, giving Nathan and Sam alike a lot to think about. He pushed those worries to the back of his mind as he pulled his tired body onto land with assistance from Elena. 

After filling his lungs with sweet oxygen Nathan turned his head to look at Sam who lay only a foot away on his left. As if feeling his eyes, Sam returned his gaze, a small grin playing on his lips. His smile was infectious and Nate felt himself grinning back.

Nathan pulled himself into a sitting position and looked to the sunset colored sky, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Sam would be impossible to deal with now.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not fuckign sorr y. *back handsprings out a window and Beyonce flips into the sun*
> 
> I had Elena sorta-kinda break up with Nate because I love and respect her far too much to have him cheat on her. The scene in-game where she comes to terms with who Nate is after seeing him light up around the pirate death-table seemed like the best place to set a base for it. 
> 
> So little disclaimer: I haven't watched or played the previous games myself, yet, but I've done a little reading on them and I didn't know that Elena and Nate had already split up once after getting married (in Uncharted 2 I believe) until I was mostly done writing this... Uncharted 4 is so well done that I could pick up on that tension two games later. Damn.
> 
> If you liked this little fic leave me a kudos! If you really liked it and want to see more from me, leave me a kudos and comment!! Show me some love and I'll be sure to reward you my sweets. <3


End file.
